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  Geebo 9:00 am on April 19, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: abduction ( 2 ), Alize Smith ( 2 ), craigslist ( 124 ), guns, Jarron Moreland ( 2 ), Johnny Barker, Kevin Garcia-Boettler, kidnapping ( 8 ), murder ( 8 ), Oklahoma ( 4 ), shooting ( 4 )   

  Arrests made in the craigslist disappearance of Okla. men 

  

  There’s been an update to yesterday’s story about the disappearance of two men from Moore, Oklahoma, who went missing after an alleged craigslist transaction. Sadly, the bodies of 21-year-olds Alize Smith and Jarron Moreland were found in a pond with both men having been shot to death. Three suspects have been arrested and charged in their murders, and they are 22-year-old Kevin Garcia-Boettler, 43-year-old Johnny Barker, and the 16-year-old brother of Garcia-Boettler.

  According to police, Moreland and Smith were said to be selling a gun on craigslist and the trio of suspects were meeting with the two men to purchase the gun. Once Moreland and Smith approached the suspects’ van, one of the suspects claims they heard a gun being cocked by one of the victims. This resulted in one of the suspects firing on the two men, killing them both. Tragically, this could have all been prevented.

  Craigslist’s terms of service forbids firearms from being sold or traded on their site, yet it happens all the time. The problem with craigslist is the usual one as they hardly ever do any kind of moderation on their site for any kind of illegal items or sales. Instead, they rely on their users to flag any kind of inappropriate ad, the same users who are posting the illegal ads to begin with. This is akin to the inmates running the asylum. Craigslist has the ability to screen for ads like this as they have done so in the past with unlocked iPhones when that was still illegal. Yet they allow guns to change hands without even batting an eye.

   

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  Geebo 11:33 am on March 5, 2018 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: armslist ( 12 ), guns   

  ‘Craigslist of guns’ shows deadly flaws in law 

  

  For all its faults, craigslist says they forbid guns from being sold on their platform. Gun sales still happen on craigslist since they don’t moderate their site, but if you want a classifieds site dedicated entirely to guns then Armslist has you covered. Armslist, which was started in 2007, is known as the craigslist of guns and allows private gun owners to sell and trade guns between themselves. While the practice is legal, in many states private gun sales do not require background checks meaning Armslist is a go to place for people who want a gun but are prohibited from owning one.

  Most recently, a gun that was traded on Armslist was used in the murder of a high-ranking Chicago police officer. This is just the latest in a line of incidents where guns from Armslist were used in violent crimes. Gun control advocacy group the Brady Campaign filed a lawsuit against Armslist stating they were negligent in allowing guns to be sold to criminals but the lawsuit was thrown out on the grounds of our old friend the Communications Decency Act of 1996. So does Armslist do anything to prevent guns from falling in the hands of criminals? They do the very bare minimum by making users click a button that says they’re over 18 and they’re legally able to purchase a gun and that’s it. Users don’t have to register or provide any kind of identification.

  That’s not even taking into account that Armslist users are susceptible to the same scams that proliferate on craigslist such as the fake check scam. That means that gun sellers would not only be out of the money they were hoping to get for the gun but the gun would now be out in the wild as well.

  Just because something is legal, doesn’t make it right. While Armslist is operating under the letter of the law it shows how easy it is for someone to buy a gun when it’s not legal for them to do so. Making it so private sellers do not have to complete background checks is a loophole in the law that needs to be closed, but until then, Armslist will continue to take advantage of it.

  Court rules lawsuit can continue against Armslist | Greg's Corner is discussing. Toggle Comments

   
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  Geebo 10:34 am on December 11, 2017 Permalink | Reply
  Tags: Facebook ( 173 ), guns   

  Gun trade alive and well on Facebook 

  

  Did you know that you used to be able to buy guns on Facebook? Not from licensed gun dealers but from individual gun owners who could sell their guns to other users without conducting a background check. That was until early 2016 when under pressure from parents groups when Facebook placed an outright ban on their platform of any kind of gun sale.

  However, if you fast forward to today, the trading and selling of guns is still taking place on Facebook. According to the Columbia Missourian, the trading of firearms continues mostly unabated on the social network. Now this isn’t an argument about the 2nd Amendment. This is an argument about Facebook not being able to enforce its own policies.

  Facebook is a private entity and can ban whatever it wants on its network. However, to say your banning something and actually being able to enforce it are two different matters. This is yet another example of how Facebook’s reach has grown beyond their ability to control it. Even the gun traders admit that sometimes a gun will fall into the wrong hands. Without any kind of real enforcement on Facebook’s part, any kind of ban they declare is one in name only.